Amstel Gold Race awards final four wildcards for 2013 race

Crelan-Euphony, Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise, IAM Cycling, and Europcar get the nod for Dutch Classic

The organisers of the Amstel Gold Race have announced the names of the teams that have been awarded the final four wildcards for this year’s race. Two of what was originally to have been six invitations were handed out in February, with NetApp-Endura and Katusha named by the race organiser. Since then, however, Katusha’s appeal to the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) has been upheld, and the Russian team has been awarded ProTeam status, and so will automatically start the WorldTour race anyway.

Thankfully, with Katusha invited to the race anyway, its late inclusion into the WorldTour has not affected the Amstel Gold Race; unlike the Ronde van Vlaanderen which, in order to keep the promises made to seven Professional Continental teams, will have a 208-strong peloton this year.

With no Dutch Professional Continental teams [all three of the Netherlands biggest teams - Argos-Shimano, Blanco Pro Cycling, and Vacansoleil-DCM - now have WorldTour status - ed] there are no local teams to invite to the Amstel Gold Race, but two of the four remaining invitations have been awarded to teams from neighbouring Belgium.

Crelan-Euphony and Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise are the lucky ones that have now received invites to all of the WorldTour Classics of the north, with the exception of Paris-Roubaix.

Also invited is new Swiss team IAM Cycling, which has also been smiled upon by many WorldTour race organisers - and is currently racing in Paris-Nice - has also been invited to the Amstel Gold Race, while the final place has been awarded to French team Europcar.

The 2013 edition of the Amstel Gold Race will be run on Sunday, April 14th; starting from the Market Square in Limburg’s regional capital Maastricht, the race will cover 251km, taking in 34 climbs, and finish in the town of Valkenburg. In a change from previous editions, the finish line has been moved from the top of the Cauberg to the same spot where the 2012 World championship races finished.